Location: Asheville, North Carolina

Published: Departures International 

For those who’ll travel far and wide for a fine meal, a map of the American south reads like a pilgrimage path as worthy as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. And while cities like Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans are the waypoints for the culinary revelation for which the south has become known, one of the most rewarding stops involved a detour into the hinterlands of North Carolina. With a craft brewery scene to rival anything in the Pacific Northwest, a thriving community of artisan cheese makers and a devoted locavore mentality with roots firmly planted in the fertile foothills of Southern Appalachia, the mountain town of Asheville has everyone talking these days.